We dont know whats coming next., Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, He is not alone in his concern about the lack of sequencing. But this third Omicron wave along with a very severe flu season will likely see our hospitals struggling even more over the next few weeks. How are COVID-19 deaths counted, and what does this mean. The more people who are infected, the more likely we are to see new variants. So what are BA.4 and BA.5? "The virus is moving in a direction of escaping our vaccines more and more, but it has not found a way to escape the vaccines to a really significant degree," Montefiori said. Around Australia, we are starting to see a third wave of cases because of BA.4/5. The Food and Drug Administration last week recommended modifying coming booster shots from Pfizer and Moderna to target BA.4 and BA.5 directly. You can also reach out to our experts using UC Davis Healths convenient Telehealth Express Carefor urgent needs or extended-hours video visits. Wearing a mask in these situations helps protect vulnerable people you could unknowingly infect. Other research suggests that BA.4 and BA.5 are four times more resistant to antibodies from vaccines than BA.2, which replaced the omicron variant as the U.S.'s dominant version of the coronavirus in April. But people who were infected with the original version of the omicron variant during the winter may be susceptible to the newer subvariants. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID tracker, BA.5 is the predominant strain of COVID-19. At the moment, if anything, Omicron seems to be on the milder side.. See the impacts of long COVID in the video player below. The ECDC reports that although there is no evidence yet of increased severity over previous variants, BA.4 and BA.5 do appear to be more transmissible. Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett said it was difficult to determine how transmissible the new Omicron variants were due to waning vaccine immunity and differing levels of prior infection. How long before I had symptoms was I possibly contagious with omicron? South Africa recently identified two new subvariants of Omicron designated BA.4 and BA.5. Heres who is eligible. Periodically we get major new variants thats a big shift. "The companies are now scurrying to make the BA.4/BA.5-containing vaccine and test that clinically," Montefiori said. Rather, rises in cases and hospitalisations observed in some places more likely have to do with fading vaccine protection. Consider upgrading your face masks to N95s or KN95s if you want more protection. Does omicron BA.5 cause more severe illness than other strains of COVID-19? The virus is moving in a direction of escaping our vaccines more and more, but it has not found a way to escape the vaccines to a really significant degree, Montefiori said. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional. However these are likely to be overestimates, as the calculations didnt take into account immune escape. They have cut the risk of severe illness against the other major COVID variants, including Delta, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron are not thought to be any more lethal than other types of COVID. Less than one-third of people surveyed reported fevers, according to data from the Zoe COVID-19 Symptom Study, which asks people to self-report their symptoms through smartphone apps. Even if masking is not required, consider wearing a mask in public indoor spaces if you or people you live with are at high risk for severe disease. From Monday, Australians over 30 will be able to get a fourth vaccine dose, or second booster. Errors creep in that change the genetic blueprint, resulting in a new version of the virus. COVID infections in the United Kingdom (UK) are also showing early signs of a possible rise, driven by BA.4 and BA.5. Theres really no clear evidence that theyre more or less likely to make people sick and cause severe illness and death, he said. However, data from South Africa and the United Kingdom found that their BA.4/5 wave didnt see a major increase in severe disease and death. Ever since it first emerged, COVID has been mutating or shape-shifting. Montefiori said BA.4 and BA.5 also havent been found to cause more severe disease. All of the variants, including omicron BA.5, cause similar COVID-19 symptoms: Even people who have partial immunity from a previous infection or vaccination can still have a breakthrough infection. Omicron BA.5 is more likely to cause less severe illness compared to other variants. Latest on the list are the Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5, which were identified recently in South Africa, one of the few countries that are still sequencing large numbers of COVID-19 tests. These tests are pretty reliable, but they're not perfect. But for some reason, this did not happen, and the World Health Organization designated them as subvariants of Omicron. If Im vaccinated and dont have symptoms, but think I was exposed to COVID-19, should I get tested? Its just some are slightly better at infecting people who have been vaccinated or infected by previous variants.. At this stage, we do not know whether any of the Omicron subvariants differ in their ability to cause long Covid. This is partly because immunity may be waning, but also because of the mutations the virus has undergone. 2004-2022 Healthline Media UK Ltd, Brighton, UK, a Red Ventures Company. a pre-print publication from South Africa suggests BA.4/5 has a growth advantage over BA.2 similar to the growth advantage of BA.2 over BA.1. COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Australia. The U.K. has not yet followed suit. Experts are unsure how hard countries will be hit. The two subvariants also appear to evade protection from vaccines and previous infections more easily than most of their predecessors. They are talked about together because mutations in their spike protein (the bit that latches on to human cells) are identical. The CDC recently released data that showed the risk of death from COVID was four times higher for those over age 50 who had only the first booster, compared with those who had two boosters. That's already happened in Portugal BA.5 is now dominant there. People who have. On May 12, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reclassified BA.4 and BA.5 as variants of concern. I aim myself to get an additional booster. Experts said the trends likely indicate that the virus is getting better at reinfecting people and evading vaccine protection. So why arent we all wearing masks on public transport? Current vaccines still work well to prevent severe illness and death. Current vaccines still work well to prevent severe illness and death. What can I do to protect myself and my family from omicron BA.5? Learn more from our experts about omicron BA.5 and how you can protect yourself. We have waning immunity now in the people who got boosted half a year or more ago, Montefiori said. However, if you were in a situation where people were outside, masked and distanced, the risk of infection is much lower. The coronavirus subvariant known as BA.5 accounted for nearly 54% of the country's Covid cases as of Saturday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reported Covid case numbers have stayed relatively flat in the U.S. since May, but case numbers are on the rise globally. Your previous immunity does not protect you from the latest strain. Several studies, including one from UC Davis, indicate how effective masks can be in protecting yourself and others. "There was a massive, massive change between delta and omicron, and then there was, again, a fairly massive change between BA.1 and BA.2.". More than 70,000 new infections and 89 deaths were reported nationwide over the weekend, with Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 now the dominant strains of the virus. Two new fast-spreading subvariants of Omicron are causing fresh surges of COVID around the world. "They're taking over, so clearly they're more contagious than earlier variants of omicron," said David Montefiori, a professor at the Human Vaccine Institute at Duke University Medical Center. As with other COVID variants, the risk or serious illness remains highest for people who are elderly, or who have significant underlying health conditions. Still, the future of the pandemic will depend not just on the properties of variants, but also on human behaviour and how much immunity has built up in the population. According to a report from the U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA), with data up to April 22, BA.4 was present in Austria, the U.K., the U.S., Denmark, Belgium, Israel, Germany, Italy, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland, and Botswana. The federal government hasnt received any advice on retightening COVID-19 mandates, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says. All Rights Reserved | Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy, 2315 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95817, UC Davis Health is scheduling COVID-19 vaccines. They were spotted circulating in South Africa at the beginning of the year and now appear to be spreading much more quickly than other variants. However, we do know that full vaccination (three doses for most people) does provide some protection against long Covid. This followed a sharp rise in cases in Portugal, where the Portuguese National Institute of Health estimated on May 8 that BA.5 was responsible for around 37% of all positive cases. BA.4 and BA.5 are more infectious than previous Covid variants and subvariants, and are better able to evade immunity from vaccines and previous infections. How do Omicron-targeted vaccines compare to the original ones? It minimises the impact and people should follow that health advice. The good news is second-generation vaccines are in clinical trials. A new version of COVID-19 is dominant in Australia. Express care services are open Monday Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday Sunday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. However, he is concerned that vaccine fatigue may be having an effect: Of course, vaccines dont prevent disease vaccination prevents disease. All Australian states and territories now have a Reff greater than 1, meaning that even with the current levels of immunity, we are seeing an exponential growth in case numbers. At-home COVID tests, also known as rapid antigen tests, are useful because they provide quick results. BA.1 and BA.2 are pretty different, he said, so the cross-protection is not as great. There is clearly vaccine fatigue out there., He added that [t]he more people we can vaccinate around the world [the more we can] reduce the chance of these rogue variants popping up., Prof. Jonathan Stoye, FRS, principal group leader, and international affairs ambassador at the Francis Crick Institute in London, U.K., agreed: It does not seem unreasonable to ask whether a greater emphasis should not be placed on attempting to provide and deliver a vaccine which can be administered to all the worlds unprotected people, particularly those in lower and middle-income countries.. You should also quarantine, watch for COVID-19 symptoms, stay away from others in your home, and wear a mask. A new version of COVID-19 is dominant in Australia. 2 years into the pandemic, what have we learned? That might mean that people who got BA.2 infections have some protection now. Yes. You will want to notify anyone you were recently in contact with so they can monitor their symptoms and get tested if needed. The answer is no.. Less than one-third of people surveyed reported fevers, according to data from theZoe COVID Symptom Study, which asks people to self-report their symptoms through smartphone apps. Medical News Today asked the experts. This is compared to surgical masks that reduce the rate of infection by about 60-70%, and greater than 80% for N95s. Montefiori estimated that BA.4 and BA.5 are about three times less sensitive to neutralizing antibodies from existing Covid vaccines than the original version of the omicron variant, BA.1. South Africa has seen a rapid increase in positive tests for COVID-19, and authorities believe that BA.4 and BA.5 are responsible. Preliminary research from Japan indicates the variants could replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2, and Bennett said this could lead to an increase in lower respiratory tract and secondary infections. Balloux said no difference has been observed so far between BA.4 or BA.5 symptoms and those of previous subvariants. New research finds that with each repeat COVID infection even asymptomatic infection your risk for complications increases. The majority of breakthrough infections (people who have been vaccinated or previously had COVID) are not resulting in severe illness. This is possibly because of the high rates of immunity due to previous infections. Should we be concerned about them? The new genetic versions that keep appearing are called variants. This wave peaked in early April at more than 60,000 cases a day. "Its just some are slightly better at infecting people who have been vaccinated or infected by previous variants.". BA.2, which is the dominant subvariant in Australia at the moment, is 1.4 times more transmissible than BA.1. Medical News Today assessed the evidence and spoke to experts in the U.S. and the U.K. to find out. The fourth dose: Why is it necessary and is it enough to stop the spike? Are we going to come to some sort of fraught truce with this virus? People who havelong COVID-19 symptomscan experience health problems for four or more weeks after first being infected,according to the CDC. Omicron started off as three subvariants (that is, a group of viruses from the same parent virus) all appearing in late November 2021 in South Africa: BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3. There is much debate around the way in which the authorities are counting and recording COVID-19 deaths. However, the majority of breakthrough infections are not causing severe illness, as compared to early in the pandemic when no one had immunity. A new version of COVID-19 is dominant in Australia. Early results are very promising, and likely to give much better protection against BA.4/5. Aria Bendix is the breaking health reporter for NBC News Digital. Learn how to schedule your COVID-19 vaccine at UC Davis Health. People, if they are eligible, should do that. All rights reserved. If you have serious symptoms of illness, contact your primary care provider. "I'm not saying it won't happen," he said. Correction: this article originally estimated BA.2 had an R0 of about 13.3 and BA.4/5 had an R0 of 18.6, similar to measles, our most infectious viral disease. We. This is the average number of people an initial case infects in a population with no immunity (from vaccines or previous infection). Im not saying it wont happen, he said. Stay vigilant and get vaccinated if you havent already. 2022UC Regents. Scientists in this country first detected BA.4 on January 10, 2022, and it has since spread throughout South Africa, now making up 35% of positive tests. BA.4/BA.5 appear to be masters at evading immunity. Thats not quite the case with BA.4 and BA.5, he said, although he noted another major shift in the viruss evolution could still come. Thats consistent with the symptoms reported in the UK earlier in the year, when the BA.2 subvariant was dominant. "There are only trade-offs.". Aria Bendix, NBC & Callum Godde and John Kidman, AAP, Sunrise presenter Monique Wright reveals daughter was hospitalised with COVID, Medicines treating COVID-19 to be made available to millions more Australians. BA.4 and BA.5 are expected to become the dominant Covid strains in Australia in the coming weeks. BA.4 and BA.5 appear to be able to infect people even if they've recently had other types of Omicron infection. [] Do they have the capacity to produce more severe disease? Each new subvariant of Omicron has been better able to evade immunity from vaccination than its predecessor. A new version of omicron is dominant in the U.S. Few countries are sequencing large numbers of positive tests, despite the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) stating on May 4 that testing and sequencing remain absolutely critical., In many countries were essentially blind to how the virus is mutating. That might mean that people who got BA.2 infections have some protection now. Are they different in any way from previous strains? Experts said the trends likely indicate that the virus is getting better at reinfecting people and evading vaccine protection. By the end of June, new weekly cases were up by 32 per cent in Southeast Asia, 33 per cent in Europe and 47 per cent in the region comprising the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, the World Health Organisation said. The mild days of Omicron are over: How new COVID strains could double the 10k death toll, A very big wave of long COVID is coming - and we arent prepared, expert warns, Australias deadliest wave of COVID-19 revealed, COVID-19 reinfections are here to stay. The National Institute of Clinical Diseases in South Africa reports that BA.4 and BA.5 are Omicron viruses with a new combination of mutations.. Both appear to be offshoots of BA.2, sharing many identical mutations. A study found BA.4/5 is able to replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2. Telehealth video visits and Express Care are also available. Heres what you need to know. Get the latest on how to schedule your COVID-19 vaccine, boosters and third doses, and more. This is especially key for those who are over age 50 and immunocompromised. Pfizer has told NBC News that it could have an updated vaccine targeting BA.4 and BA.5 ready to be distributed in October. The omicron subvariant of COVID-19, BA.5, has become one of the dominant strains of the virus in the U.S. How quickly could we get new vaccines against variants? Its recommended that those above the age of 50 do get their additional booster shot, he told reporters in Canberra on Saturday. But experts stressed that there may not be a dramatic difference in protection between additional boosts of the current vaccines and omicron-specific shots. "Given the uncertainty, theres no right or wrong," he said. Rather, rises in cases and hospitalizations observed in some places more likely have to do with fading vaccine protection. This gap is in place because many infected people still shed virus particles many weeks after recovery. Learn more about when you should get tested. There is abundant evidence that being vaccinated and getting all COVID-19 boosters helps protect you against severe disease. The latest ones experts are concerned about BA.4 and BA.5 are very closely related to the Omicron variant behind last winter's wave. The FDA recommended that Covid vaccine makers target two omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 in new booster shots expected to come this fall. The latest Omicron subvariant: What we know so far about BA.2.12.1, What immune imprinting means for the future of COVID-19 vaccines. Number one: To detect these minor subvariants. The latest variants are masters at evading immunity meaning previous infection and vaccines are unlikely to provide much protection against catching it. It is likely that COVID-19, in whatever form, will be with us for some years to come the key question is, can we keep it under control as we try to get life back to normal? Watch this video for tips on using at-home tests, Learn what to do if you test positive for COVID-19, See how at-home rapid COVID tests can help families stay safe. The Omicrons are an extraordinarily contagious family. Its always better to know than not [to] know.. A study has shown them to be almost six times more infectious than the original Wuhan strain of coronavirus and as infectious as the measles. What are omicron BA.5 symptoms? If your last boost was over six months ago, you might want to consider getting boosted again now with the current vaccine to keep your protection strong while were still getting through this pandemic, Montefiori said. Access, update your COVID-19 vaccine record, According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID tracker, CDC recently released data that showed the risk of death from COVID, sign up to get four free COVID test kits that are mailed to you from the federal government, upgrading your face masks to N95s or KN95s, California Department of Public Health: COVID-19, Centers for Disease Control: Coronavirus (COVID-2019), World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, Johns Hopkins real-time dashboard for COVID-2019 cases, long-term cognitive impairment, including dementia, If your illness gets worse, youll want to know so you can take advantage of. Most European countries now have them and they look set to overtake other types of COVID soon. These subvariants have now spread to several other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. However, they do differ in some of the mutations on the body of the virus. To help limit spread of COVID-19, we have policies for visits to our hospital and outpatient clinics. There are some data that say these subvariants are even more contagious. can experience health problems for four or more weeks after first being infected. South Africa had a surge in cases driven by BA.4 and BA.5 this spring, and Covid hospitalizations are rising in the U.K. How effective are N95 masks vs. surgical masks vs. cloth masks? (For brevity, I refer to them as BA.4/5.). As of June 19, BA.5 accounted for 43 per cent of Omicron cases worldwide, while BA.4 accounted for 12 per cent. COVID cases are soaring. Although the numbers recorded for both variants are currently low, the actual case numbers are likely to be much higher. There was a massive, massive change between Delta and Omicron, and then there was, again, a fairly massive change between BA.1 and BA.2.. However, the UKHSA published a risk assessment of the two subvariants comparing them with Omicron BA.2. But the new subvariants do appear to be spreading more easily. However, the federal government on Monday will move forward on the issue of access to vaccines. Manufacturers could scale up production quickly too, and regulators have already discussed how to fast-track the approval process. Many countries have also lifted their COVID restrictions, meaning people are mixing more, which gives the virus more chances to spread. We havent figured out how to do that yet., What have we learned about the evolution of viral variants after 2 years of COVID-19? These estimates, and the reference to measles, have now been removed. A similar subvariant, BA.4, makes up 17% more. Doctors say it is vital people get the recommended number of doses to gain maximum protection against existing and emerging variants. See more in the video player above, Watch the latest News on Channel 7 or stream for free on 7plus >>. Despite what many of us might like to believe, COVID-19 has not gone away. What are the facts behind the numbers? People of the age of 30 and above as well, they are eligible. If things get bad enough, state and territory governments might be forced to reintroduce face mask mandates in many settings in my opinion, not such a bad thing. This suggests that the new subvariants may be better at evading the immune system than BA.2, but that the data is insufficient to draw firm conclusions. Some good news from GAVI the vaccine alliance is that although antibodies from previous Omicron infection do not seem to afford much protection against the new variants, antibodies from vaccination appear to be much more effective. Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Omicron the list of SARS-CoV-2 variants continues to expand. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. BA.5 was also detected in South Africa, in February 2022. Its important to remember that you may be asymptomatic and not know you are infected but still able to spread COVID-19. Instead of testing right away, you could monitor for COVID-19 symptoms and get tested if any develop. If you've been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or are having symptoms, at-home tests can give you a good sense of whether or not you have an infection. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Most people who test positive with any variant of COVID-19 typically experience some symptoms for a couple weeks. "BA.1 and BA.2 are pretty different," he said, so the cross-protection "is not as great.". Viruses make carbon copies of themselves to reproduce, but they aren't perfect at it. ET): A previous version of this article misstated which group recommended boosters targeting BA.4 and BA.5. Although it can vary, people are generally contagious between 1-3 days before omicron symptoms show. At this stage now, I think all these variants actually are roughly equally transmissible, so theres not a huge difference, he said. Is omicron BA.5 able to spread more easily than other COVID-19 strains? However, some unfortunate people get a new infection within the 12 weeks, and therefore are not counted. It's the most easily spread strain to date and is able to evade immunity from COVID infection and vaccination. The more chances coronavirus has to make copies of itself in us the host the more opportunities there are for mutations to occur. Francois Balloux, the director of the University College London Genetics Institute, said that's most likely another reason the subvariants have taken over. Likely, there are now tens of thousands of Australians into their second or third infections, and this number will only get bigger with BA.4/5. BA.1 rapidly took over from Delta in Australia in early January this year, forming a massive wave of cases, peaking at more than 100,000 a day. So far, BA.4 and BA.5 have been identified in several countries in addition to South Africa. Australia is heading for its third Omicron wave in the coming weeks, as BA.4 and BA.5 become the dominant Covid strains. CORRECTION (July 7, 2022, 7 a.m. They also have many additional mutations likely to impact transmission. Do I really need to know if I had COVID-19 if its not causing serious illness? Unfortunately, omicron is so easily spread that even those who are fully vaccinated and boosted may get the illness. In the U.K., where BA.4 and BA.5 also account for the majority of new Covid cases, the most common Covid symptoms last week were runny nose, sore throat, headache, persistent cough and fatigue. If you test positive, then you should isolate. The FDA estimates that omicron-specific boosters from Pfizer and Moderna will become available in early to mid-fall. A recent pre-print publication (a publication that has so far not been peer-reviewed) from a Japanese research group found that in lab-based, cell-culture experiments, BA.4/5 was able to replicate more efficiently in the lungs than BA.2. A wave of new infections could lead to more hospitalisations and some more deaths. BA.4 And BA.5 Omicron: How Worried Should We Be. If you've been exposed to someone with the virus or have COVID-19 symptoms and are waiting for a test or your results, stay home and isolate from others. For that reason, he added, people eligible for second boosters those over 50 or the immunocompromised may not want to wait. It is likely that BA.4 and BA.5 will spread further, and that they will not be the last new variants. They made everyone fair game for infection or reinfection but hospitalisations were unlikely to reach levels seen during the initial Omicron wave, she said. This increases the chance of reinfection. There have been a few major variants already, such as alpha and delta, that have caused massive waves of infection. In the US, officials say they are seeing rising numbers of infections caused by the two new subvariants. "At this stage now, I think all these variants actually are roughly equally transmissible, so theres not a huge difference," he said. This includes an increased risk for: To protect against omicron BA.5, health experts recommend the following: Since the omicron variant BA.5 is so new, health experts do not have a clear idea how effective the vaccines are in preventing illness.

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